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George William Northwood
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Architect, war hero.
Born at Ottawa, Ontario on 12 December 1876, son of William Northwood and Margaret Wilson, he was educated the Ottawa College Institute and McGill University (Montreal). In 1900, he commenced a career as an architect with K. Arnoldi of Ottawa.
In 1905, he came to Winnipeg and practiced until early 1907 with William Wallace Blair. He was responsible for designing many fine buildings around the city. He also had a business interest in the Manitoba Linseed Oil Company and National Securities Company.
With the outbreak of the First World War, when he went overseas with the 8th Battalion. Captured by the Germans in April 1915, he was held in a prisoner of war camp with John Kidd Bell. He returned to Winnipeg in 1918 as a Major, having been awarded the Military Cross. He established the architectural firm of Northwood and Chivers in partnership with Cyril William Upton Chivers.
From 1931 to 1933, he was Dominion superintendent of unemployment and farm relief. He was a Chairman of the Sanatorium Board of Manitoba (1943-1948). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada in 1938. He was President of the Manitoba Association of Architects (1923) and Manitoba Club (1931-1932). Later in his life he was President of the Northern Canadian Mortgage Company.
In 1906, he married Augusta Campion “Gussie” Simson (c1880-1960) of Thorold, Ontario and they had four daughters: Mary Frances Margaret Northwood (1907-1994, wife of Richard Henry Gardyne Bonnycastle), Margaret Constance Northwood (1909-?), Rosamund Campion Northwood (1911-?, wife of Charles Pritchard), and Barbara Northwood (1915-?, wife of George Blackwell).
He died at Winnipeg on 15 December 1959 and was buried in the St. John’s Cathedral Cemetery.
Some of his architectural works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
797 Honeyman Avenue, Winnipeg
1905
48 Lydia Street, Winnipeg
1906
279-281 Garry Street, Winnipeg
1906
Demolished (1972)
139 Main Street, Melita
1906
44 Princess Street, Winnipeg
1906
207 Hugo Street North, Winnipeg
1908
Manitoba Linseed Oil Plant
14 Archibald Street, Winnipeg
1908
Demolished (2019)
Northern Crown Bank Building
654 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1908
Demolished (1983)
O’Grady House (John Waller de Courcy O’Grady)
175 Mayfair Avenue, Winnipeg
1908
Demolished (?)
Guest Block (expansion)
596-598 Main Street, Winnipeg
1909
Destroyed by fire (8 March 2024)
42 Balmoral Street, Winnipeg
1909
377 Carlton Street, Winnipeg
1909
411 Stradbrook Avenue, Winnipeg
1909
377 Carlton Street, Winnipeg
1909
McDonald House (Mrs. F. M. McDonald)
555 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1909-1910
264-276 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1909-1910
545 Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg
1910
853-857 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg
1910
172 Lilac Street, Winnipeg
1910
Northern Crown Bank Building (addition)
232 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
1910
Destroyed by fire (27 December 1955)
388 Donald Street, Winnipeg
1910
St. Helena Court
226 Cockburn Street North, Winnipeg
1910
Demolished (?)
54 Adelaide Street, Winnipeg
1910
638 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1911
132 James Avenue, Winnipeg
1911
54 Balmoral Street, Winnipeg
1911
321 McDermot Avenue, Winnipeg
1912
Telegram Printing Building (addition)
54 Adelaide Street, Winnipeg
1912
Whitla House (Mrs. R. J. Whitla)
151 Yale Avenue, Winnipeg
1912
40 East Gate, Winnipeg
1912
321 Stradbrook Avenue, Winnipeg
1913
54 West Gate, Winnipeg
1913
Pantages Theatre (supervision)
180 Market Avenue, Winnipeg
1913-1914
After 1919
Ontario birth registration, Ancestry.
Birth registrations [Mary Frances Margaret Northwood, Margaret Constance Northwood, Rosamund Northwood], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
“Building and real estate,” Manitoba Free Press, 22 February 1908, page 20.
“Linseed Oil plant Company,” Manitoba Free Press, 23 March 1908, page 10.
“Many beautiful residences,” Manitoba Free Press, 21 November 1908, page 29.
“Northern Crown’s new bank bldg.,” Winnipeg Tribune, 1 June 1910, page 9.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
Marriage [Rosamund Campion Northwood], Winnipeg Tribune, 3 September 1942, page 16.
“Downtown building just mass of rubble,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 December 1955, page 1.
“George W. Northwood dead at 83,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 December 1959.
Obituary [Augusta C. Northwood], Winnipeg Tribune, 18 April 1960, page 12.
Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by John M. “Jack” Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
1905 - Northern Bank, Winnipeg, Archiseek.
We thank Nathan Kramer, Christian Cassidy, Jordan Makichuk, Lyle Brennen, and Andrew Kirkpatrick for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 9 March 2024
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